A constructive debate over the classification of child psychopathology can be stimulated by investigating the validity of different classification approaches. We examined and compared the short-term predictive validity of cluster analytic and dimensional classifications of child behavioral adjustment in school using the Behavior Assessment System…

Evaluated versions of the HOME Inventory for use in assessing family child care homes. Found that psychometric properties of child care versions of HOME were similar to those of the original HOME for the family environment. Child care HOME scores were strongly related to observational measures of caregiver behavior and to measures of physical and…

To help teachers develop a repertoire of instructional strategies that will effect positive changes on students' learning outcomes is essential for both general education and the field of gifted education. This article introduces readers to a classroom observation tool that is designed to help assess professional development needs of teachers of…

The last century was marked by dazzling changes in many areas, such as technology and communications. Predictions into the second century of testing are seemingly difficult in such a context. Yet, looking back to the turn of the last century, Kirkpatrick (1900), in his American Psychological Association presidential address, presented fundamental…

The purpose of this article is to develop, validate, and field test two readiness assessment instruments, "Schools Ready for Children" and "Children Ready for School." The authors first describe the development of the assessment instrument dealing with policies and practices of "ready" schools. The items on this…

We examined the psychometric properties of a German translation of the Child Global Report version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). A total of 1219 German school-children (644 boys and 575 girls), ages 10-14 years participated in the study. The APQ was subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Exploratory factor…

Background: Movement clumsiness (or Developmental Coordination Disorder--DCD) has gained increasing recognition as a significant condition of childhood. However, some uncertainty still exists about diagnosis. Accordingly, approaches to assessment and treatment are varied, each drawing on distinct theoretical assumptions about the aetiology of the…

In response to the American Association of Applied Linguistics' presentation of the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award for extraordinary contributions to the fields of language learning, teaching, and testing in May 2004, Merrill Swain described her own work as "moving in cycles of research, theory and practice." These "spirals" ("cycles…

In this study, the authors improved the understanding of the cognitive processes underlying the reflective-impulsive cognitive style (RI), which was initially measured by J. Kagan, B. L. Rosman, D. Day, J. Albert, and W. Phillips (1964) on the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT). The authors determined the relationships between the RI style and…

SIETTE is a web-based adaptive testing system. It implements Computerized Adaptive Tests. These tests are tailor-made, theory-based tests, where questions shown to students, finalization of the test, and student knowledge estimation is accomplished adaptively. To construct these tests, SIETTE has an authoring environment comprising a suite of…

The conceptualization and empirical assessment of service quality in juvenile justice remains limited. There are few reports on programmatic attempts to assess satisfaction in juvenile justice programs or attempts to include what constitutes quality of service from multiple customer perspectives. This article describes a potential model, the Gap…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to validate measures of individual and organisational infrastructure for health promotion within Alberta's (Canada) 17 Regional Health Authorities (RHAs). Design: A series of phases were conducted to develop individual and organisational scales to measure health promotion infrastructure. Instruments were…

The Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale (KIPS) is a brief practical tool to assess the quality of parenting interactions across 12 parenting behaviors. Family service providers from a variety of education, health, and social service settings can use KIPS to identify parenting strengths and needs. In this article, the authors describe the rating…

Objective: This article examines the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Conners' Parent and Teacher Rating Scales-Revised: Short Forms (CPRS-R:S-C and CTRS-R:S-C) in a representative sample of 2,584 first to ninth graders in Taipei and 479 clinical participants (274 with ADHD). Method: The instruments include the CPRS-R:S-C,…

The vast majority of students with learning disabilities at the postsecondary level demonstrate reading decoding, reading fluency, and writing deficits. Identification of valid and reliable psychometric measures for documenting decoding and spelling disabilities at the postsecondary level is critical for determining appropriate accommodations. The…